Paramount Plus does have commercials for certain programs or live broadcasts, and even the Premium plan has promotional interruptions.
Streaming services provide their subscribers with large libraries of content that can be accessed easily and conveniently.
These platforms also sometimes offer ad-free plans. However, when it comes to the Paramount Plus platform, subscribers will always get commercials or promotional interruptions while they are streaming, regardless of which plan they subscribe to.
The advantages of using a streaming service
Streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Paramount Plus are becoming an increasingly popular form of home entertainment, and for good reason.
These streaming platforms allow their subscribers access to vast libraries of on-demand content for a relatively affordable price.
These streaming services are also usually available on a variety of devices, which makes it possible and convenient for you to watch your favourite shows and movies while you are on the go.
Does Paramount Plus have commercials?
There are many benefits when you subscribe to a streaming service, but one of the main benefits is the fact that most streaming services offer an advertisement-free (or ad-free) plan of their platforms.
These advertisement-free packages are usually slightly more expensive than the advertisement-supported packages.
However, they do ensure that your streaming sessions will not be interrupted by commercials during, after, or before your shows or films when you stream on the platform.
Unfortunately, this is where Paramount Plus may fall short compared to other streaming services. Much like Hulu or HBO Max, Paramount Plus offers subscribers two main packages to choose from when they join the platform:
- The Essential plan, which is the more affordable package, but does include commercials
- and the Premium plan, which is the platform’s more expensive, ad-free option for streaming
However, the real problem that most Paramount Plus subscribers complain about is that the commercials on the Essential plan seem to appear more frequently and for longer periods of time than other streaming services.
Some subscribers even have to wait up to five minutes to return to their on-demand content and they claim that the Premium plan, which is marketed as being ad-free, still includes commercials for Paramount Plus’s original content.
This can be annoying when you have paid more for a viewing experience without commercials.
Therefore, all the Paramount Plus packages, even the Premium plan, which is supposed to be ad-free, have commercials for their live broadcast shows, as well as for their on-demand content.
| Pick your Paramount+ plan. Your first 7 days are free. |
Why does the Premium plan still have commercials?
Premium subscribers have noticed that they still see commercials when they are streaming on Paramount Plus, even though this plan is supposed to have no advertisements. Paramount has provided various explanations for why this happens:
- Streaming rights for some of the content on the platform dictates that there should be at least two promotional interruptions throughout the duration of the show or movie. This keeps subscribers up to date about new content on the platform
- The platform shows subscribers previews of other content on the platform once each day before the beginning of a show
- Commercial breaks during live broadcasts cannot be avoided
Why do some Paramount Plus subscribers get more commercials than others?
In most cases, the commercials, or so-called “promotional interruptions” that serve to inform Paramount Plus subscribers about Paramount Plus original content that is available on the platform, are shown more regularly on other Paramount-owned content.
Thus, if you watch more Paramount Plus original content, you will, unfortunately, be subjected to more promotional interruptions.
In much the same way, when you stream live television broadcasts on Paramount Plus, you will also see all of the commercials shown during the live broadcast, which means that you see more commercials in this time.
Are there any other differences between the Premium and Essential plans?
Some Paramount Plus subscribers have been vocal about the fact that they do not feel that the higher price for the Premium plan is worth it. Especially since you still see brief, 10 to 15 second promotional interruptions instead of commercials on this plan.
However, there are other elements that Paramount Plus have included in the $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year Premium plan, which differ from the $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year Essential plan to make up for this price variation.
This includes the fact that the Premium plan includes even more live sports channels than the Essential plan, support for 4K, HDR, and Dolby Vision, and the option to download content to watch later.
However, both Essential and Premium subscribers get access to the tens of thousands of shows and films on the Paramount Plus platform.